A Happy Sickness
by Kathryn0505
Summary: Set between seasons three and four. Pam gets sick after her dealing with the magister and Eric helps her.


"I'm going to ground," Pam grumbled. Not that Eric was listening. He was too busy worrying over Sookie to pay any attention to her or how she was doing after the Russell fiasco.

Sure enough, he didn't even look in her direction as she moved to leave his office. Selfish Viking asshole. Doing her very best to refrain from throwing something at his head, she walked out and down to the basement where her coffin was.

Since Sookie had gone missing, Eric began spending a good chunk of his time trying to locate her. It was starting to get really irritating. And really pathetic.

Sure, Sookie wasn't so horrible. When she'd met her she'd even been intrigued herself. But that changed when Eric's little fascination had started to take up more and more of his time, time which took him away from her.

So she might have been a little excited when she found out she was missing. She'd tried to hide it from Eric and she was surprised to find she'd pretty much been successful. He'd been so focused on the damn faerie that he really hadn't been paying attention to the waves of emotion coming from his progeny.

That suited her just fine. But even as annoyed as she was at him, she didn't want to go home and leave him at Fangtasia alone while he worked. Hence the coffin in the basement.

That, and she didn't really think it was safe enough to go home by herself. She was pretty sure she had Hepatitis D. How embarrassing!

TRUE BLOOD

Oh, yeah. Something was definitely wrong. The next night when she rose she felt worse than she ever had in her life. She felt exhausted and weak and it was already 10 pm.

It took her an additional hour to get ready. Despite what everyone would assume, Pam was good at getting ready quickly. She'd had 100 years to master putting on clothes and makeup in record time. Plus she could normally go at vamp speed but she found she now could not. Getting ready for Fangtasia was exhausting and she wanted so badly to crawl back into her coffin.

She summoned what little energy she had and made her way to the bar. Eric spotted her and gave her a stern look. She was late and they both knew it. Normally he didn't really pay much attention to the running of Fangtasia but with Sookie gone it seemed he was going overboard with his need for control.

She sighed as he beckoned her over. She walked over obediently to hear her lecture.

"You're late," Eric observed.

"I am," she told him. She really wanted to tell him to fuck off. "I'm sorry."

He gave her a once-over before finally saying, "Don't do it again, Pamela." He shooed her away and as soon as she had her back turned she rolled her eyes.

She decided to run the bar for the night and make drinks. It usually had the least trouble and she didn't have the energy to stand outside at the door.

TRUE BLOOD

The next few nights were nearly the same. Instead of feeling better, Pam felt only worse. Luckily Eric was busy with some very important secret errands because he'd missed her coming in late pretty much every night since the first. She needed more and more sleep and she didn't have the energy to face him.

Her luck ran out on night five, however. She made her way into the bar only to hear Eric bark her name from his office. She bit back a few curses.

"I have urgent matters I need to attend to, Pam," he told her. "I need to know that you can do your job and run the bar."

"I can, Eric," she said. "Everything's running fine."

"Then we must have good staff. Seeing how you waltz in whenever you want."

Her anger finally got the best of her. "Well, seeing as I come in every night and you are off doing fuck knows what, I think I can keep this covered. You have no idea what it takes to run this place because you always just dump it in my lap! This is _our _bar, Eric, but you leave me with all the work. So fuck you for commenting on my hours!"

Eric was out of his chair and on her as soon as she finished her sentence. Pinned to the wall by his hand on her throat, Pam could do nothing but hang there. She wouldn't have been able to push him off normally anyway, but especially not now.

"Don't test my patience, Pamela. All I ask is that you keep this bar running. Have I ever not provided for you? Is this too much to ask for?"

Feeling chastised, she bit back tears. Eric always had taken care of her and even if he was ignoring her lately, he was still her maker. She was just so tired and feeling so neglected.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Tears began to fall and Eric looked at her in surprise before lowering her to the floor.

He stroked her curled hair and gently asked, "Whatever is the matter?"

Pam shook her head. It was too embarrassing. Pulling herself together she told him, "I'll do better."

Pam almost never submitted to him in this way. Sure she did as she way told, but it was normally with a healthy amount of respectful sass. She never rolled over like this. And it had been a very long time since she'd cried while waiting for punishment.

Sensing that something was going on that she wasn't ready to share, he cut her a break and gathered her close. She clung to him in return and he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. As she pulled away he held her face in his hands and placed a second kiss to her forehead before letting her go.

She rushed from the room, presumably to clean herself up, leaving him even more bewildered.

TRUE BLOOD

He didn't have to wait long to figure out what was going on. Two nights later he was hit by a wave of pain and panic and knew immediately it was Pam.

He felt for a moment to see where she was. She was still in her coffin, even though it was 11 at night. Something was wrong.

"Eric," she whispered when he opened the lid. "I feel horrible."

"What's wrong?" he asked, reaching in to move her hair out of her face.

And even though she was embarrassed, she finally recognized she really needed his help. "I think I have Hep D," she said. "I'm so tired."

"Since when?" he demanded. How the hell had he not seen this?

"Magister," she said, trying to keep talking to a minimum.

"He gave it to you?"

She shook her head no. "Didn't feed me. When I found someone later, I was so hungry. Didn't taste it in the blood. Eric, I'm so exhausted."

"Alright," he soothed. "It's okay. I'm going to shut down the bar and get Dr. Ludwig here. You're gonna be fine," he said, stroking his fingers through her hair.

She started to protest but he was already heading upstairs. She must have fallen asleep again because the next thing she knew he was caring her upstairs to one of the back rooms with a couch.

The always pleasant voice of Dr. Ludwig intruded into her peace sometime later. She'd mostly been out of it when she'd examined her, looking down to note that at some point she'd lost some of her clothing.

"Oh, she's got Hep D all right." How compassionate she sounded.

"She'll be okay?" Eric checked.

"In time. How old is she?" The dwarf began packing up her things.

"105."

"She should be fine in a couple of weeks," the doctor said. "It tends to hit babies the hardest. They can be sick for up to a year."

"What should I do?" Eric asked.

"Keep her fed. Not Tru Blood, real blood. It should help her to give her some of yours every now and then, as well. It won't heal her infection, but it should make her feel less tired. Other than that, just let her rest."

Pam listened as Eric thanked and paid the doctor. He sat next to her on the couch and looked down at her.

"I've closed Fangtasia for the night. I'm going to take you home so you can rest properly."

A proper bed and rest sounded heavenly. Still, Eric sounded mad. "I'm sorry," she whispered miserably.

Eric was confused. "What for?"

"That you have to go to all this trouble," she said.

"You're always trouble," he smiled at her. "But you're worth it, my dotter." He stroked her arm before getting up and retrieving her clothes. He helped her to get dressed before flying her home for the night.

TRUE BLOOD

Pam was extremely surprised at the change in her maker. While before he'd been mostly ignoring her and focusing on Sookie's disappearance, he now spent a good deal of time caring for her. She was starting to feel better but she wasn't ready to leave the house yet.

The added bonus was that she was once again drinking Eric's blood. It was something they hadn't done in years, and she had seriously missed it.

She was licking his blood from her lips when she heard him ask, "Why didn't you tell me sooner you were sick?"

She blew air passed her lips, trying to think of an explanation. "You were busy, Eric. And if I was too stupid to keep from getting it then you didn't need to be bothered with it."

He laid back on the bed and pulled her with him to curl into his side. "That's not true." When she stayed silent he pulled back a little to face her on his side. "I'm your maker, Pamela. If you ever need anything, you can come to me."

She warmed a little at his words and nodded. "Thank you," she settled on, though it felt wholly inadequate. She could thank him every day for the rest of their existence and it still wouldn't be enough for all he's done for her. She snuggled into him and pressed her face to his neck.

It had been a long time since she'd truly needed him around all the time. As a baby vampire he had been around much more frequently to teach and guide her. Over time he had given her more latitude and, while the distance was necessary for practicality, she had missed the closeness they once shared.

Content for now, she drifted off while wondering for how long she could play up her sickness before he realized.


End file.
